A wide variety of substrates are coated with single color or multicolor patterns for personal adornment and the like. Nail polish is often applied to fingernails and/or toenails, both natural nails and artificial nails, generally formed from acrylics and adhesively bonded over natural nails. Generally, a single color is applied to the entire nail, with perhaps a base coat under the polish and a clear or other coat over the polish for varied optical effects. Sometimes, a pattern of different colored polish is applied or sequins, glitter, etc. are added to the still wet polish.
Forming small, sharply patterned areas on the nails is quite difficult. Free hand painting of designs requires considerable skill and is difficult on small areas such as fingernails. Masking tape and the like can be used to mask off part of the nail, although only straight edged, large, patterns can be accomplished.
Attempts have been made to silk screen patterns onto fingernails, as is described by Jenkins in U.S. Pat. No. 5,316,026. This method uses fairly expensive screens and generally has difficulty following the contour of a fingernail. This method appears to be only capable of printing a design on a central area of the fingernail using only one color per screen.
Stencils have been cut from relatively thick plastic in broad patterns, as described by O'Donnell in U.S. Pat. No. 2,031,225 and Rucker in U.S. Pat. No. 4,960,587. However, the stencils described in these patents are primarily intended for preventing polish from overlapping onto the moon of the nail or the finger adjacent skin, and are not described as suitable for the formation of areas having sharp, small patterns in plural colors.
Thus, there is a continuing need for improvements in methods of decorating substrates such as fingernail, toenails and the like, that will provide sharp edge, small patterns of different colors and that can be used to apply a number of patterns in different colors.